Too Short to Paint

And Carmin's suspicions were correct, they totally thought he was some kid. He hated having to clarify this with everyone, Mostly because it was embarrassing and weird. But Ellen’s reaction wasn’t really all that bad, rather than being weirded out she mostly just seemed sorry that she assumed he was a kid. He didn't like the fact that she thought he was younger, but he couldn't bring himself to get angry. She seemed so sorry and it wasn't even her fault.

"It's... fine." He just wanted to move past it and pretend the misconception had never happened. "I'm not from around here either, so I guess I understand how you feel." He'd go on to mumble under his breath "I don't know how anyone gets used to this."

He would then stare awkwardly at the sidewalk and then back at her. "I'm going to head back to the school now, I'll see you around." He'd turn to start walking, then turn around again right away. "And I'm-" He'd stop for a moment, biting his lip. "I know I'm weird so it's not your fault for thinking I was a kid." He'd turn back around quickly and start walking back to the school, without even considering the possibility that Ellen might have to come the same way as him. His walking was pretty slow, given his little legs.

Walking quickly at first and then transitioning into a more casual walk, Carmin was slowly making his way back to the school. He always seemed to run into awkward situations when he tried to interact with people and as per the usual, he was now just trying to run away rather than come to any sort of resolve. He just didn't remember it being so hard to talk to people. He used to be perfectly alright with it, but now it was impossible for him to carry out a normal conversation.

He couldn't stop thinking about it no matter how hard he tried, and even got to the point where he could hear Ellen's wheelchair in his head. Or maybe it wasn't in his head. He'd stop in his tracks and turn to see the girl approaching and then talking to him. He didn't speak, instead just looking at her with wide eyes and confusion.

Seeing this girl chase after him to tell him he wasn't weird made him feel like he was going to cry, but he managed to hold it in. Ellen's chuckle and explanation that she was heading in the same direction worked to somewhat clear the awkwardness, enough so for Carmin to respond normally. "O-oh, I see. We can walk back together then I suppose." Wait, was it weird for him to say that? What if Ellen didn't want to? His thoughts slowly pushed more words out of his mouth. "If you want to of course, you don't have to..."

There was a small but notable boost in Carmin's confidence when Ellen replied so surely. He'd been wearing an almost worried facial expression after asking the question but it seemed to fade away shortly after he got her response.

Carmin was well aware that he wasn't a very fast walker. His stupid legs were horrible at it and people always seemed to be walking around him at a much faster pace any time he tried walking casually. Despite this, Carmin tried to pay attention to how Ellen was doing and would try to slow down if it looked like it was difficult for her to keep up.

He was still worried about what he was going to say or how he was going to talk to her too. He wasn't good with conversation before and he wasn't about to miraculously get better at something so impossible. Luckily, Ellen seemed to ask a pretty simple question that made it easier to talk. "I live in the dorms. Um, what about you?"

He certainly knew that Italy existed, but aside from what he'd learned from an Italian restaurant, he didn't know a whole lot.

"I've heard of Italy before, that's where pasta came from. Though I have to admit I don't know much else apart from that."

He scrunched his face a little confused by something. He had assumed that Ellen was just a normal human, but if that was the case and she was from Italy then what reason could she possibly have for ending up on the island.

"W-why did you leave Italy to come here?" As far as Carmin was concerned, this place was far worse than the narrow reality, someone wanting to come here just because they wanted to sounded nuts. But even if that was the case, how did she find out that the island even existed?

Discovering that his one fact about Italy was wrong certainly was a surprise. Carmin simply responded with "Oh."

Carmin squinted as Ellen began to explain their reason for being at the island. It was already beginning to sound like maybe he shouldn't have asked that, yet she was still smiling as she spoke.

When she revealed her legs to have been cursed, Carmin tensed up. "I-I see, I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked." Carmin was well aware of how difficult curses were. They were hard to deal with and even harder to get rid of. With all the crazy powers everyone seemed to have, one would probably assume that any curse could be cured rather easily, but Carmin knew all too well that it just wasn't the case.